Caring for your prize

[BobT]

On Friday afternoon I was traveling eastbound on I-94 when a vehicle passed me towing a trailer with 4 or 5 ATVs along with a nice harvest of mule deer. Some of the racks appeared to be quite nice. What was a bit questionable though was based on their license plate they were heading to somewhere in Wisconsin. The fact that they were transporting mule deer and on I-94 suggests they were on their way home from somewhere at least as far away as central North Dakota.

Friday afternoon had temperatures into the mid 50s and I’m sure it was warmer where they were headed. The hides were still on the deer. Doesn’t this seem a bit risky or would the wind-chill from moving on the highway be enough to keep the animals cold enough? Of course, I don’t know how cold it was where they came from but personally, the last thing I would want to do is allow the meat to get warm again. I would rather skin and quarter the meat and protect it in some kind of cold storage. Even if one would buy a used deep freeze to pack them in ice for the trip home. Heck, compared to the cost of the trip, buying a new deep freezer, plugging it in while there to get things cold, and bringing it home is minimal cost to protect the meat from spoilage.

I can’t help but wonder how much flavor the meat lost or gained depending on one’s perspective.

Bob

[Deitz Dittrich]

I hear you there Bob... There is a hunt club near my cabin that had at least a dozen deer hanging... they were hanging at least a few days.. with the temps we had, yuck if you ask me!

[almostthere!]

That is what we call the quick "aging" process.

[harvey lee]

One can only hope that they were very well chilled before they left and part way home it was cooler.

I always skin and debone my meat and put it in a cooler before I travel any distance.

[Code-Man]

my buddy was up here from Iowa during rifle. They put the deer they got into a trailor and filled the chest with ice bags. Aint recomending it but they filled it with a bunch of bags and it stayed good for 3-4 days.

[iffwalleyes]

When I have transported game from the west if I am driving straight home. I will buy a few bags of ice and through in the chest cavity and you should be fine. Plus it was cooler in ND Fri-Sun than MN. But good point. This fall when hung our antelope off of a game hanger on my pick up and skun them out and quartered them up with in about 4 hours of harvesting the first on in Oct.

[USDA3]

The thing that gets me is when people transport deer on open trailers. Usually by the time they get home a layer in the combination of dirt, sand, and heaven forbid it had just snowed, salt has accumulated on the deer. I guess it just adds to the taste!

[harvey lee]

The days of the deer hunters hauling there deer on a car hood or trunk,in trailers and other weird places has almost ended.30 years ago it was common to see alot of this.Now,you will see some but the majority of the hunters today take better care of thier game.You will always have some of this as hunters want to show off thier kill.

Deer hunters do not need the image of the slob hunter anymore. It is up to us as sportsman to cure those old ways.

[WalleyeGod]

On our way back from CO elk hunting we stopped in NE for gas and a short time later a pickup with a trailer and 4 wheelers also pulled up to the island for gas. In the trailer I could also see animals, elk. Two cows gutted out with the hide still on with a little ice thrown in the chest cavities. It was low to mid 50's that day. Don't know where they had come from but presumed CO or WY on their way to WI I believe. Also we saw how the hide had been rubbed off and dirty in a couple areas of the animals and had figured they had been drug/towed down to the vehicle with the 4 wheelers from wherever they had been shot. It would have been easier to quarter and bring them down that way I would have thought. Needless to say, they did it differently than I would have. We use a freezer in our enclosed trailer.

I did not get a chance to talk to the hunters so don't know their story. Elk meat, or any meat for that matter,is much too good to handle that way. WG